• Reading something frivolous? Or something serious?
  It depends on the book, really. If I think a book sounds interesting, regardless of seeming frivolous or serious, I will read it.
• Paperbacks? Or hardcovers?
  Paperbacks, hands down. I have a hard time carrying around hardcovers, especially since I have to carry textbooks frequently. I also prefer the feel of paperbacks. They feel more comfortable in my hands since the pages and cover feel soft and flexible.
• Fiction? Or Nonfiction?
  For fun I tend to read both equally. For nonfiction, I prefer to read scientific studies of things because I mostly read it for research purposes (or furthering my knowledge). I probably read more nonfiction than fiction, mostly because my studies in school require reading tons of textbooks or articles.
• Poetry? Or Prose?
  Prose, although I like poetry too. Usually I prefer reading poetry about science fictional themes (especially post-apocalyptic). I do not read very much poetry however. I should remedy this.

I have no doubt that eventually print will become extinct, but merely as a medium. Just like how we abandoned writing on stone tablets and turned out sights to different media. I do not consider this a bad thing, because I never lamented the obsolescence of stone tablets. We never abandoned words, we merely wrote them down in a different way. While I enjoy holding a book, I feel sorry for the trees that died for the book’s blank pages (this always baffled me, such a waste of resources!). Although the environment might not benefit from the obsolescence of printed material, it will signal a step towards the future. People often mistake my reverent interest in futuristic affairs as envisioning a positive (or negative in their opinion) future. I do not consider the future as something we can classify as positive or negative. I do not consider anything inherently positive or negative.

Some say that hand-in-hand with the extinction of print goes the death of novels (and short stories, etc). I have heard that the rising level of stupidity, along with the rising popularity of visual media will eventually destroy all other forms of entertainment. I do not hold this view. I agree that human stupidity rises (and spreads) exponentially. Everyday I see firsthand the rising human stupidity. I see it in my ‘peers’ (if I can even call them that), who show an increased disrespect for learning (yet admit that they need to learn something in order to acquire a profession). These people do not willingly learn anything. They complain of having to write a one page essay or having to ever take a test. Attending class seems like a great inconvenience to them. When they attend, if they attend, they do not show the professor any respect and never pay much attention to the lectures. And they wonder (and complain at great length) why they failed the class (or test, or assignment).

Unfortunately when anyone looks at my generation, they only see these people. It harms my reputation as an upstanding student. It does not help that my appearance often seems rebellious (only if you look at people judgmentally and from an obsolete worldview). So I get lumped in with such people, and sneered at by old ladies (and you thought old ladies acted nice). And people on the Internet write statements such as this:

“Your great-grandparents could read Latin. Your grandparents could read Hemingway. Your parents could read Dune. You could read to the end of this post. Yor chldrn wnt evn bothr w tht mch.” — Daveina, commenting on “Are the Novel’s Days Numbered?”

Well, I never knew my great-grandparents, but I doubt they could read Latin. They never went to college. My grandparents also did not attend college. My remaining grandmother asks other people to form opinions for her (not even joking). She never read Hemingway. My father did read Dune. I have read Hemingway, almost all of Shakespeare’s known plays, and countless other classic novels. Of course, I consist of a minority (in more ways than just literary cred) and all of my accomplishments mean nothing statistically. Yet if even a handful of people like me still exist in the future (and we have existed throughout the course of humanity) literature will continue. We will give up our literature only when we need something to fuel the fire to keep us from freezing to death. And only after contemplating it for a very long time. If print becomes extinct, we will read the next great novels (and re-read the classics) on our computers or whatever we have on hand.

If, for some reason, literature gets wiped out due to a totalitarian government who need to keep the population dumb, then we cannot do much about that (other than rioting). I can actually name a few people who might want this to happen, but I would rather not name them. Just in case they do gain power, regulate content on the Internet, and decide to hold my statements against me. I like to plan ahead.

What if we lived in a world where information cost nothing (monetarily)? What if we had the capacity to learn everything, to easily tap into the wealth of the world’s collective knowledge? Does it sound like a utopia? To me it does and the thought of such a world fills me with unsurpassed happiness. Of course, utopias seem unrealistic and this case has its downsides. If we did live in a world where access to information seemed without boundaries, where would our concept of privacy fit in? I suppose in a situation of free information, privacy would not factor in. Everyone would know everything about you. All of your embarrassing secrets and everything you even try to forget.

At first I felt slightly disturbed by this. I want a world without any boundaries, yet I still felt uncomfortable about people seeing every side to me. In the past I had a difficulty with lies, they slipped out unintentionally and I felt awful about lying to my friends. Later I realized that if I lied about one aspect of my life to one group of people, it would spread virulently through all aspects of my life and to everyone I knew. I learned to eliminate all lies and now seem brutally honest to people. I still feel quite embarrassed over the things I did not admit to. I actually moved several states away to escape that sort of thing (I have moved back since then, though). Anyway, instantly thinking about all of those secrets I keep made me feel horrified.

Then I calmed down and thought about it. An ideal world would not have lies, people would act and speak honestly. There seemed no reason for secrets in such a world, so what would we have to hide then? Yet to reach that world, we would have to start making progress now. We would have to accept everything about ourselves, all of those things we hide from ourselves as well as others. Break down those barriers! It only restricts our mental evolution (as individuals and as collectives). Perhaps we can find a benefit in abolishing privacy (first in our own minds, then move on from there). By shedding all of our mental barriers that keep people from looking inside, we stand there naked for all to see. Yes, this feels frightening at first and for a long time, but eventually we realize that we wasted half of our lives in hiding. What do we gain from privacy? People find a way in all the time. No matter what firewall you install, someone will find a way in.

Of course, before we accomplish any of this, we must eliminate judgement from society. By that I mean judging others for their actions, such as discriminating against former prostitutes (or whatever, fill in the blank with anything someone would find immoral). Why must we treat people badly for doing something we might not agree with? So long as they do not hurt others, what harm does it cause to you? Obviously departure from value judgements will take a considerable amount of time. I do not really expect any of this to become a reality (at least the positive parts). It just seems very interesting.

As a writer, I look for a lot of ideas such as this one. I use this information to build a fictional world centered around ideas I find. From there I get an interesting background for a story, perhaps it even becomes an aspect of the central plot.

This idea came from reading this post at Cyberpunk Hero.